Re: Skälansk - History and Babel text

On Wednesday, December 8, 2004, at 10:44 , Keith Gaughan wrote:

> Isaac Penzev wrote:
>
>> Keith Gaughan wrote:
>>
>>> Pascal A. Kramm wrote:
>>>
>>>> Yes, but keep in mind that this decision was made in the late middle
>>>> ages, so it refers to their knowledge at that time.
>>>
>>> Tsk, tsk! Quite the opposite! Languages with a VSO word order would have
>>> been quite well-known. Ireland, for a start, was one of the centres of
>>> learning during the Middle Ages, Gaelic and was one of the first
>>> langauges with a written grammar. You can count all the other Celtic
>>> languages in too.
>>
>> And don't forget the Biblical Hebrew: it's predominantly VSO, esp. in
>> narratives.
>
> You're right! And Classical and Modern Arabic too.
Modern Arabic is hardly relevant to Skälansk, as Pascal will probably
point out. But Classical Arabic is a different matter. The Moors entered
Spain in 711 and remained there for much of the middle ages, until the
Granada fell in 1492.

> What about the other Semitic languages; are they mostly VSO too?
True - but possibly not relevant to Skälansk. However.....
On Tuesday, December 7, 2004, at 12:14 , Pascal A. Kramm wrote:
[snip]
> After thorough research of the most versed scholars, this project was
> eventually realized with some distinct and unique features:
>
>     * It was decided to put the verb at the beginning, followed by subject
> and object, since this structure was not found in any other known
> languages.
If the conclusion of the research by these scholars from the islands
Sjaelland, Lolland, Holster and Møn in Denmark in the late middle ages was
that it was not found in any other known language, then with respect one
really has to ask how thorough the research was.

They really should have discovered that it was used, but less common than
SVO or SOV. Far rarer are those languages that regularly put the object
before the subject with OSV apparently being the rarest among the world's
languages.

Ray
===============================================
http://home.freeuk.com/ray.brown
ray.brown@freeuk.com
===============================================
Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight,
which is not so much a twilight of the gods
as of the reason."      [JRRT, "English and Welsh" ]